Crash- Station 19/Marina

New brace

Maya made a lot of progress in her first 2 weeks at rehab. She could move her arms quite a bit, she couldn't control her hands or wrist or lift her arms up much yet and they got tired quickly but it was enough that she could drive a power chair. She was close to being able to feed herself with utensils that attached to her hand so she didn't have to hold it. She couldn't lift her hand up all the way to her mouth but she was really close.

Carina had started working again, they decided she should go back to work while Maya was still in the hospital so she could take some time off when she finally got to go home. So Carina worked most days but did all her charts and paperwork in Maya's room and had lunch with her everyday.

This morning Carina was paged a bit early so she got ready quietly before waking Maya up.

"Buongiorno bella, I have to leave early, I just got paged. I'll see you later" Carina said then started to turn away.
Maya barely opened her eyes. She mumbled something and tried to reach for Carina but missed because she was still half asleep.
"What?" Carina asked
"Kiss first" she mumbled and Carina kissed her
"Now go back to sleep" Carina told her before leaving.

Maya didn't go back to sleep, she layed in bed for a while then she was completely awake. The problem was that Carina had left for work meaning she had to wait until someone came to check on her, unless she hit the call button which she'd never tried but didn't seem like something she could do. So she waited, after a while one of the nurses come around checking on everyone and noticed she was awake.

"You're up early today" Erin, the nurse, said
"Ya, Carina got paged early and I couldn't get back to sleep"
"Do you want to get up?"
"Yes please, I think I slept weird, my head hurts around the pins"
"How long have you been awake?" Erin asked
"I don't know, maybe half an hour"
"Good, not too long. I'm going to check the pin sites"
"Ok, sometimes they hurt a little, I'm sure it's fine"
Erin looked at all the pins in her head
"I'm going to page your surgeon, it might be fine but I think they should look. It seems like one of the pins is broken. Dr Shepherd right?"
"Ya, what happens if it's broken"
"Dr Shepherd will decide if it needs to be replaced, if it's fine without that pin or if it can just come out. I have no idea what she'll decide. I'm going to page her then I'll get you ready ok?"
"Sure"

Erin got Maya ready but just sat her up in bed instead of getting her up. About half an hour later Amelia came in.
"Good morning, it sounds like you're already causing trouble this morning" she joked
"All I said was that my head hurt, apparently a pin looks loose"
"I'll take a look"
Amelia checked all the pins, also trying to wiggle them a bit.
"Ow! That's the one that hurt the most" Maya says when Amelia touches one of the back pins
"That's also the one that's broken and you have 2 others that are loose" Amelia tells her
"So what now?"
"Time for some new scans"

Amelia took her for scans them brought her to a treatment room.
"So usually someone wears the halo for 6-12 weeks, you've had it for almost 5." Amelia starts explaining. "Your spine's healing pretty well so I think instead of doing another surgery to replace the pins I could remove it and just put you in a collar"
"Like a c-collar?"
"Pretty much but a nicer one that's meant to be worn for a while"
"Ok. Could you find out if Carina's available, she got paged early but I want to tell her and I want her to be here"
"Let's go find her"

They found her pretty quickly, she was just scrubbing out.
"Hi, what are you doing here? I didn't think you had scans today" Carina said when she saw them
They explained what was going on and Carina went with them back to a treatment room, Amelia left then came back with a resident and all the supplies she'd need.

"Ok, so I'm going to take the halo brace off. You still need to wear a neck brace all the time for at least 2 weeks, we'll get new scans then. The brace you'll be wearing is an aspen collar but if you want we can put a different brace on when we take this off so you could shower" Amelia explains
"Yes. I haven't gotten to actually shower since I've been here" Maya says quickly
"Ok, let's get started then"

The resident held Maya's head by the halo while Amelia took the bars off, put the collar then took the vest off which caused Maya to slump, she would have fallen over if it wasn't for the resident hadn't been holding her head, and Amelia grabbing her.
"Ok, its fine, the vest was just helping you stay sitting up." Amelia explained to Maya "Carina can you help hold her while I get the halo off"
"Si" Carina said as she took over supporting Maya's torso so Amelia could take the bolts out of her head

"Ow!" Maya said a few minutes later as Amelia was working on one of the pins
"I'm sorry, its the last one and its the broken one so its tricky" Amelia said
A few minutes later she was done.
"There, you're free!" Amelia said "you can head back to your room, that's it. Just keep the pin sites clean, they'll heal on their own in a few weeks"
"Great, and I can shower now?" Maya asks
"Yes, they have lots of different shower chairs and big accessible showers in the rehab wing, they'll pick which chair will work best for you. Then after you shower I want you to lay flat and someone can carefully take that collar off, dry your neck and put this one on" Amelia says grabbing the neck brace she'll wear for the next few weeks
"Ok, ready to go?" Carina asks
"Ya" Maya replies and Carina tries to reposition her in the wheelchair so she can sit then lets go
"No, falling!" Maya says as she starts to fall sideways as soon as Carina lets go
"Ok, that chair is one you would fit in with the brace but you probably need a different one now. Let's put you in a regular hospital wheelchair to go back then you can figure out something better with PT and OT later" Amelia suggests
"Sure" Maya says, she likes the independence being in the power chair but she can't be independent if she can't sit up

They get her in the other chair which works slightly better but Carina still has to keep one hand on Maya while pushing the chair to keep her upright. Amelia sends the resident with them to bring the power chair back.
The resident leaves and Maya and Carina find someone to ask about the shower. An hour later Maya is clean and laying in bed while Carina changes the neck brace to the better, dry one.
"There, does that feel ok?" Carina asks
"Ya, its weird not having the halo, its been on for so long. I mean, its not that comfortable and my neck's sore but I'm sure I'll get used to it"
"Good. Now we need to change your bag, put in a new catheter then get you dressed. You can actually wear a shirt now! Are you ok with me doing that?"
"Yes, I'm sorry you have to deal with all this gross stuff"
"Maya, this 'gross stuff' keeps you alive and healthy, I don't care, its not gross"

A while later she was dressed and sitting up in bed
"You know what we could do now that you don't have the big halo brace on?" Carina says, smiling
"What?" Maya asks
"You move over" Carina says as she moves Maya to one side of the bed then sit next to her, it takes a lot of shuffling but Carina gets Maya in between her legs, leaning against her. "I can hold you now"
"It's been too long" Maya says as she pulls her arms in to find Carina's that are wrapped around her. "Hold my hand"
Carina does and they stay that way for a while